Washington (CAR) Analysis | April 16, 2024 by Climate Journalist Noreen Wise; Image Credit: Noreen Wise

Have you seen the 2023 award-winning soil health documentary Common Ground, sequel to Kiss the Ground?

Most likely, not. 

This impactful feature documentary, that highlights our broken food system and its negative impact on soil health and human health, has experienced a stealth rollout from California to Massachusetts and the majority of states in between.

Sold out in venues coast-to-coast. Standing ovations at film festivals and screenings around the world. Thousands of people filling out request forms to have the film shown in their city’s theater. High demand that appears insatiable. Yet, streaming services are refusing to run the film unless it’s edited (and the “truths” removed?). 

Common Ground is centered on the conflict between the subsidy-funded, toxic Big Ag versus the small, yet powerful and hope-inspiring Regenerative Ag that’s creating the right amount of controversy to heighten awareness and drive the American public to local theaters wherever it is being screened. NYC, Seattle, San Francisco, Denver, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Washington DC, Lincoln, Arlington, are just a small sampling of the many cities that have had Common Ground dropped onto the barren sands of America’s drought-ridden entertainment culture. Yet, the Common Ground seeds are sprouting quickly and the public is demanding “more screenings.”

Is Netflix still saying “no, must edit”? This is mystifying, but seems to be having the same effect that banning a book has, that of everyone rushing out to buy it, or in this case see it.

COMMON GROUND

The expertly written and directed Common Ground is sequel to the spectacularly successful documentary Kiss the Ground, which was released during COVID in September 2020. Kiss the Ground has been viewed by more than 100 million people worldwide which helped kick-off the global, soil health movement that’s quickly shifting into high gear, and transforming tens of millions of degraded acres of farmland into healthy regenerative acres teaming with life.

Common Ground poignantly begins with celebrities — Rosario Dawson, Laura Dern, Donald Glover, Woody Harrelson, Jason Momoa, Ian Somerhalder — drafting a heart-felt letter to their children, with each star contributing a few lines. By the end of this brief passage, viewers have the film’s outline:

“Some of it might be hard for you to hear. It’s both a warning and a promise. There are things I need you to know about how we got ourselves into this mess. It’s not something they taught you in school, but it might be the most important thing you’ll ever hear. There are some harsh truths that I need to share with you. And once you know them, they’ll be hard to ignore. Your life and the life of your children will depend on how you respond, because what I’m about to to tell you, is a matter of life and death.”

Common Ground’s stunning success is a clear sign that Co-Directors Rebecca and Josh Tickell hit their intended mark. Viewers are called to respond. And respond we do. Of course we do, that’s the film’s magic. It taps into the basic human survival instinct, that of protecting our own health and lives, as well as our loved ones.

The timing of each “harsh truth” sequence in the film almost seems scientific it’s so stirring. A seemingly rhythmic progression through the individual elements to the gripping conclusion. Just enough time for each idea to sink in, but never too much time, or too little. Achieving this is far more difficult than it may seem. The overall ideal length of the film is another element that ingratiates the public to the vital concepts being presented.

The harsh truths are many, but their conveyance is gentle. This soft approach is accomplished by the wonderful people sharing their first hand accounts. Gabe Brown (the North Dakota farmer in the Superman cape that’s front and center of all the promotional material) is one of these heart-warming, grounded experts that viewers quickly connect with. Gabe kicks off the film’s discussion about soil health and regenerative agriculture by defining regen ag, and contrasting regenerative ag principles with the conventional principles that we pay for through our taxpayer funded subsidies. Gabe speaks to viewers while standing on the property line that separates his regenerative agriculture farmland, and his neighbors’ conventional fields. Viewers can see the difference with their own eyes. Gabe explains what created the stark contrast between the two landscapes. The viewers see the neighbor’s lifeless, brown dirt while Gabe walks us through the backstory: “Tillage, monocultures, high use of synthetics, not sequestering carbon, degrading the soil. That’s common. That’s common.” He continues with the eye-popping contrast, “One system is working to kill things. One is working in harmony with nature, with life. You can hear the difference. You can hear the birds. You can hear the insects. This emphasizes life,” he says looking at his farmland. We then return to the camera shot of his neighbor’s fields, and Gabe says, “This to me is death.”

The star-studded cast of environmental activists invite audiences into their inner circle to share vital information that will improve our lives and our health, all while drawing down huge amounts of carbon from the atmosphere and sequestering it in the soil. 

Can our daily food choices really result in a massive reduction in atmospheric carbon levels?

Jason Momoa answers that question by explaining that “According to the Roadell Institute, by converting our farmland to regenerative agriculture, we can sequester all the carbon dioxide that humanity emits each year.” And amazingly, “that would bring our carbon emissions to net zero.” The bottomline, Momoa states, is that “Our planet’s soil can help save lives.”

The public response to Common Ground has been consistent, effusive praise, which has been paralleled by a long list of spectacular “Winner” film festival awards, including Winner of the Human/Nature Award at the Tribeca Film Festival in June of 2023. But Big Ag and the plant-based, meat alternative industry, and its cult-like followers, seem to be voicing their objection to Common Ground’s harsh truths through harsh and controversial, snarky reviews. Hopefully, Co-Directors Rebecca and Josh Tickell will view these silly tropes as proof that “harsh truths are hard to ignore,” at least by the villains.

Common Ground is being shown in 75 AMC Theaters across the United States on April 22, 2024, Earth Day. Buy tickets NOW before seats are sold out.

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